Sub 1:30 Half Marathon in 2019 (Read 260 times)

JMac11

posted: 2/13/2019 at 7:28 PM

Sure. So the key to my comment is at the same mileage per week. Obviously, running 5 days a week at 50 mpw is more stressful than 3 days a week at 30 miles per week. However, the overall stress load is much lower if you break your runs into more days. It becomes a lot more obvious when you think about higher mileage.

Take somebody running 80 mpw for marathon training. If they attempted to run that over 5 days, that means they would be averaging 16 miles on every single run. Their week would like something, I think, like this

12

16

0

16

12

24

0

That type of week would be incredibly stressful on the body. Instead, imagine they ran 6 days a week, but with some doubles. It would look something like this:

8 am, 6 pm

10

16

0

10

10

20

That is much less stressful on the body. Put another way, 3 days in a row of running 10 miles a day is a lot less stressful on the body than 15, 0, 15. I used to think the opposite, but I’ve learned that you get more “Rest” the more runs you have per week. Seems counterintuitive, but it’s true.

Jmac- That's making some sense now, I think the key will be to find to what extent I will be capable of running for this block. I will definitely stick to 4 days a week for another week or two, but I will likely increase that to 5 days a week once I start bumping up the mileage. I'll definitely have to experiment a bit and really listen to my body. Obviously I would like to jump back in to 30 mpw right now, but I am being very cautious with it because I don't want it to come back. At the same time though, I can't train afraid, so it's a tough line to walk.

Matt - sounds like you have the right idea, unlike me who stupidly pushed it. I think you were running in the 50-60 range before injury right? If so, I think 30-35 will be perfectly safe for this cycle. Good luck.

Sad to see so many injuries in this thread! And piwi, come back, if you're a fully dedicated surfer now we can have a surf section in the thread.

I entered the Waterfront race because me and the girlfriend planned a holiday in April - May. It's now looking like that will be pushed back to June. If I'd known that I would have skipped the Waterfront and focused on the Christchurch (half) Marathon. Now I guess I'll just do both although for me, with my injury history, I need to be very cautious post-race about hitting workouts again so doing both may impact what I can do in Christchurch which is my preferred race. Having said that, the Waterfront was an awful experience last year and it would be good to put that to bed with a good race.

Not sure if I should adjust my goals to say 1:32 for Waterfront and PB for Christchurch - I suspect after the recent discussion on stretch goals, the consensus here will be a solid NO. It would be good to do Christchurch and catch up with Mark (after, not during, the race). in Auckland it will be a quick hello at the start and I'm straight to the airport afterwards.

1. Use Waterfront as a tune-up race, run it at maybe 95%, and focus on Christchurch

2. Go all out at Waterfront and then have Christchurch as a fall-back

If you are planning on doing both, realistically you don't need to make this decision until the start of April anyway. Keep the training up and see how the body is feeling. If you're feeling like you're really progressing, then maybe have a serious go at Waterfront and then Christchurch could be a bonus. If you're finding the tempo sessions tough, maybe use Waterfront as a tune-up to blow out some race-rust and then focus on Christchurch.

They're both pretty quick courses but Christchurch doesn't have the same risk of warm temps as Waterfront (it would probably also be less impacted by wind).

I've got a 1pm flight home on the Sunday after Christchurch but it's fully flexi - when you plan your races early... you can hold out for sale airfares! - plus there's a chance the wife and daughter might come down.

Yeah I think it's a sensible approach to approach Auckland as if it's my last race and reassess 2 weeks out if training hasn't quite gone to plan. If I go all out in Auckland, regardless of result, I'll need at least 2 weeks of recovery for the legs.

Christchurch has always been my favourite, because it was my first race and a great course pre-earthquake. Post-earthquake the course is improving and I like to support the race/city. This year the start/finish is at the traditional town hall location for the first time since 2010, now that the building is finally repaired. I'm not sure how they'll adjust the course but it should mean at least a 400 metre straight into the finish which is better than the sharpish turns into Cathedral Square in recent years.

1pm will give us time for a beer Mark. And if you do come down solo I have a proper guest room in my new house, although no doubt you have your routines so whatever suits.

Cheers Steve, I already booked an Airbnb which is walking distance from the start just in case the wife and daughter come as well. Strategy worked pretty well at Dunedin and Omaha last year! I see they haven't put the course maps up yet, maybe they're going back to the pre-earthquake courses? Your plan makes sense, with 6 weeks between the 2 races there's plenty of time to recover and put in a bit more training before Christchurch too.

My PB race was when I lived 10 minutes walk from the start. It's definitely the way to do it!

It would be good if they did go back to the original course - out around the river first then a lap of North Hagley and back to the town hall to finish. In the last few years since they brought it back into town, the Hagley Park lap has been about at the 3km - 7km mark when it's still too congested for the narrow paths. Too congested among the 1:30 runners that is, probably not an issue for the sub 1:15ers.

Steve I hear you on the injury front. I've mentally given up on Boston at this point. I cannot believe that my knee is all screwed up now after getting through a calf and ankle issue. I've had a really bad run of injuries so far this spring and I think it's time to just give up on Boston, enjoy the race, and get back to slow mileage building over the summer.

JMac - that sub-3 thread just keeps getting better. I thought the whole argument about easy pace went a little overboard, but then MMC charged in and Mikkey is just crushing him. You had a great one-liner in there too when MMC first weighed in.

Totally agree. It got overboard a bit (I mayyyyyyy have trolled too much), and I love that someone created a separate poll about it, but it’s great to see the people coming out of the woodwork to chime in. I can’t believe Piwi is missing all of this, he would be going nuts.

The Hagley 3-7km section is a little annoying. It is not an area where you can speed up. It is early enough in a half to not matter, but would be really hard for 40-60 minute 10k racers if you are looking to speed up.

Damn JMac your troll game is strong right now... that Kipchoge quip was gold!

Seriously I’m not sure what MMC thinks a bunch of sub-3 hour marathoners are gonna learn from a podcast about not watching TV or listening to music while running. JMac’s PR at NYC despite having stomach cramps for most of the race, and JTReeves PR last year where he was practically hypothermic by the end of the race are possibly slightly better examples of the level of resilience and self-motivation on that thread.